tions of New York we have settled the matter that tillage is neces- 

 sary, for without it we can neither get the crop of fruit nor can we 

 secure the size of apple that will bring the most money. This much 

 therefore is settled; we must cultivate our orchards and we must 

 grow cover crops. Unfortunately, however, there are certain dis- 

 advantages that follow from these practices, chief among which 

 is that the grower is not securing the high color on his fruit that he 

 would like to get. This is a real problem and one of vital import- 

 ance, for it is still true that the average buyer buys with his eyes 

 and unless a fruit be attractive in color it will not find a ready 

 market at a good price. Our problem is, therefore, how may we 

 still till and grow cover crops and yet increase the color of our 

 fruit. Possibly this may be done by the addition of some commer- 

 cial fertilizer. Those who have done the most work on the subject, 

 however, rather doubt this. 



The common practice in tilling an orchard and putting in the 

 cover crop is so well known that it is not necessary for me to des- 

 cribe it to you. I do, however, want to give you the outline of a 

 system which is used by a few of our best growers and which may 

 possibly help in solving this question of better color. The orchards 

 are plowed very early in the spring. It is possible to use the disk 

 instead of the plow if the owner prefers this method of getting 

 his orchard under cultivation. The cultivation is very thorough 

 all during the early part of the summer but it is not carried on to as 

 late a date as is generally done. Just as soon as the leaves on the 

 trees are very dark in color showing a good rank growth and a 

 healthy state, then the owner stops his cultivation and puts in his 

 cover crop ; this may be as early as the first of July or even before 

 that date. When the cover crop is sown as early as this, it generally 

 gives good results and a good stand of clover is obtained. This in 

 turn tends to stop the growth and to ripen the wood, which is a 

 fundamental condition for good color. Frequently the cover crop 

 reaches such a stage that it is necessary to mow the orchard once 

 in the fall. The following spring the orchard is again plowed and 

 the same process is repeated. The great objection to this method as 

 I see it is that it will tend to give us an over supply of nitrogen 

 from the annual growth of the leguminous cover crop. I doubt too 

 whether it would be possible to use any non-leguminous cover crop 

 when it is sowed as early in the summer as this is. At any rate, 

 this paper does not try to solve this problem ; it aims only to point 

 out some of the greater problems which confront the apple grower 

 of to-day. A broader view of this same problem is the production 

 of a higher grade of fruit. This does not apply to color alone but 

 includes also the finish of the apple as well as freeness form blem- 

 ishes of all kinds and description. As competition becomes keener, 

 that section will live where the greatest proportion of the fruit is 

 of a strictly fancy grade, other things being equal. 



After all I cannot believe that our greatest problem lies in the 

 field of growing more or better fruit; rather is it connected with the 



